Archive for July, 2014

One Coach and Nine Student-Athletes Will be Inducted on Friday, October 17 and Presented at Halftime of BC-Clemson Football Game the Next Day

With Cathy Inglese, winningest coach in the history of Boston College women’s basketball.

Today I got down to work on one of my most enjoyable annual assignments: interviewing and writing up the life stories of the newest members of the Boston College Hall of Fame. I spent a few hours with Cathy Inglese, the all-time winningest women’s basketball coach in BC history. Cathy coached at BC for 15 seasons, had an overall record of 273-197, and brought the Eagles to seven NCAA Tourneys and three appearances in the Sweet Sixteen.

Cathy is a most fitting choice and is the only coach among the inductees. The rest of the Hall of Fame Class of 2014 are student-athletes. And yes, that’s for real; all were top-notch students. Three of them played ice hockey. The other sports represented with one inductee each are volleyball, field hockey, track & field, softball, baseball, and the first-ever inductee in the sport of fencing.

Allison Anderson ’07 (volleyball): A three-year captain and BC’s career leader in aces (133), digs (2,176), and digs per set (4.92). After graduation, she received the Weaver-James-Corrigan Award, an ACC postgraduate scholarship for excellence both on the court and in the classroom.

Bob Dirks ’09 (field hockey): A three-time All-American and 2006 ACC Offensive Player of the Year. She started 77 out of 79 games and finished her career as BC all-time leader for goals in a career (62) and points in a career (150).

Jeff Farkas ‘00 (hockey): Played four years and was All-American and a Hobey Baker finalist in 2000.He is BC’s sixth all-time in scorer (190 points). He also received BC’s Outstanding Male Scholar-Athlete Award and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Kasey Hill ’07 (track and field): The first BC track & field athlete to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2007. She also competed in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She holds BC’s record holder in both the pentathlon and heptathlon, and she is among the top five in the 55m hurdles (8.02), 100m hurdles (13.91), 200m (24.85m), shot put (43’0.25”), javelin (123’0”), and long jump (19’0.75”).

William Hogan, Jr. ’33 (hockey): The Bill was responsible for reviving the sport of ice hockey at Boston College during the Great Depression and for recruiting his Cambridge neighbor John “Snooks” Kelley to be head coach. He led the team in scoring in 1932-33 and went to a distinguished legal career after graduating from Harvard Law School. His son Bill Hogan III, Class of 1963, is also a Hall of Fame member. Bill Jr. will be a posthumous induction; he passed away in 2012 at the age of 100.

Marty Reasoner ’98 (hockey): The breakthrough recruit in coach Jerry York’s rebuilding of the hockey program, Marty played for three years and led the team in scoring each time. He was All-America and the team leader in the NCAA Frozen Four Year of 1998. He went on to play 15 years in the NHL.

Kim (Ryan) Scavone ’03 (softball): A two-time captain, she was Big East Rookie of the Year in 2000 and Pitcher of the Year in 2003. She ended up as Big East career and single-season strikeout record holder, and she was a first-team Regional All-American in 2003.

Paul Taylor ’04 (fencing): Boston College’s first Rhodes Scholar and holder of a doctorate in astrophysics, Paul is BC’s first fencers to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. He was a three-time NCAA Regional finalist, twice qualified for the NCAA Championships, was 2002 New England Collegiate Foil Champion, and has BC’s most career wins as foilist.

Jeff Waldron ’99 (baseball): A catcher, Jeff was captain in 1999 and twice All-Big East first-team. He ranks first all-time in walks (99), third in on-base percentage (.441), fifth in runs (138) and seventh in batting average (.341). He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1998 MLB draft.

Once again, BC Varsity Club has nominated a most impressive group of people. They’re great representatives of the school. I’m looking forward to getting the program book written up, and to the induction ceremony in October.

*****
P.S. This is not related to the Hall of Fame, but I don’t want to lose this opportunity to let you know of the October 7 release date for Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room, co-authored by Reid Oslin and me. It’s a history of Eagle hockey that traces the evolution of the sport from the days of “ice polo” in the 1880’s all the way through BC’s six national championships.

That’s right – six. BC has won the NCAA Championship five times. But before that tournament even existed, the Eagles took the National AAU Tournament Crown way back in 1942. After winning it, they were presented with the George V. Brown Memorial Trophy, which was emblematic of the championship of amateur hockey in America.

Full disclosure: George V. Brown is my grandfather. So you know that made it into the book!